It’s been over 20 years, but Big Dipper is back. The seminal jangle pop band’s first album of all-new material since 1990’s Slam is due out November 27. Recorded at vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Gary Waleik’s home studio, the 12-track album, titled Big Dipper Crashes on the Platinum Planet, will be released on Almost Ready Records and will feature cover art from none other than rock legend Robert Pollard.
Big Dipper haven’t been completely dormant since their 1992 break-up; the band reunited in 2008 for a series of shows to commemorate the release of the three-disc Merge Records retrospective Supercluster. Renewed interest in the band from the reunion gigs inspired Waleik — along with guitarist/vocalist Bill Goffrier, drummer/vocalist Jeff Oliphant, and late-era Big Dipper bass player Tom Brewitt — to return to the studio for the first time in a very long while.
For anyone scratching their head, Big Dipper formed way back in 1985, consisting of Goffrier, Oliphant, and Waleik, along with Waleik’s Volcano Sun ex-pat Steve Michener. Waleik and Goffrier began writing songs and it was only a matter of time before their debut — the EP Boo-Boo — was released on Homestead in 1987. Later that year, their full-length follow up Heavens was released to critical acclaim. After touring North America consistently, Europe twice, and releasing Craps in 1988, the band moved up to the majors by signing to Epic Records. On Epic, they released Slam. Michener left the band shortly thereafter and that was basically it until the 2008 reunion.
The band hasn’t announced tourdates or an official tracklist yet but that is sure to come before Big Dipper Crashes on the Platinum Planet makes its way into your hands.
• Big Dipper: http://www.facebook.com/BigDipperBand
• Almost Ready: http://www.almostreadyrecords.com
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